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Trackballs
A trackball is a pointing device consisting of a ball held by a socket containing sensors to detect a rotation of the ball about two axes—like an upside-down mouse with an exposed protruding ball. The user rolls the ball with the thumb, fingers, or the palm of the hand to move a cursor. Large tracker balls are common on CAD workstations for easy precision. Before the advent of the touchpad, small trackballs were common on portable computers, where there may be no desk space on which to run a mouse. Some small thumbballs clip onto the side of the keyboard and have integral buttons with the same function as mouse buttons. The trackball was invented by Tom Cranston and Fred Longstaff as part of the Royal Canadian Navy's DATAR system in 1952, eleven years before the mouse was invented. This first trackball used a Canadian five-pin bowling ball. The world's first trackball invented by Tom Cranston, Fred Longstaff and Kenyon Taylor working on the Royal Canadian Navy's DATAR project in 1952. It used a standard Canadian five-pin bowling ball.When mice still used a mechanical design (with slotted 'chopper' wheels interrupting a beam of light to measure rotation), trackballs had the advantage of being in contact with the user's hand, which is generally cleaner than the desk or mousepad and does not drag lint into the chopper wheels. The late 1990s replacement of mouseballs by direct optical tracking put trackballs at a disadvantage and forced them to retreat into niches where their distinctive merits remained more important. Most trackballs now have direct optical tracking which follows dots on the ball. As with modern mice, most trackballs now have an auxiliary device primarily intended for scrolling. Some have a scroll wheel like most mice, but the most common type is a “scroll ring” which is spun around the ball. Kensington's Slim Blade Trackball similarly tracks the ball itself in three dimensions for scrolling. Three major companies Logitech, A4Tech, and Kensington currently produce trackballs, although A4Tech has not released a new model in several years. Microsoft was a major producer, but has since discontinued all of its products. The Microsoft Trackball Explorer continues to be extremely popular (it has no analogous design in production by another company), with used models selling for around $200 on ebay. A trackball can basically be described as an upside down mouse (the old type with a ball). Category:Devices Category:Input Devices Category:Useful Page Category:Hardware Category:Other Category:ffadg Category:aregt Category:dzg Category:aetj Category:dyoiu Category:e56 Category:7grs Category:usw64r Category:user Category:yae5t Category:jhsryi Category:s4rtxhj Category:ns6r Category:tujxft Category:usr6t Category:ujfyug9 Category:e5d6tr Category:yusfyt Category:w45ey Category:sryiu Category:ws56y Category:tsu Category:w65 Category:u6sd7e Category:98ui Category:kstyh Category:jsr6 Category:ystr Category:ysr6 Category:ydrt Category:ye56 Category:ysrt Category:ye6 Category:yuw65 Category:u7w45 Category:stys65 Category:ywe4u6 Category:r68 Category:ie Category:5tyu Category:ey Category:dr Category:hjd Category:y67uj Category:hg Category:hjd Category:6ryu Category:hdty Category:us Category:rtyh Category:sw65 Category:78eu56 Category:udy Category:ue Category:56 Category:87etr Category:s6yw45 Category:6yd Category:rue Category:657 Category:ws5 Category:yed57 Category:8 Category:w474t Category:7ue Category:65us Category:tr Category:wstry Category:w45tr Category:yw6r Category:u7srt Category:usre Category:ytr6 Category:utd Category:tyu Category:w6tru Category:rty Category:rs Category:y Category:S Category:RTY Category:SDRTY Category:SR5Y Category:DR Category:UDRY Category:UD Category:YTUJ Category:S6U Category:E56USRT Category:HSRT Category:YS5 Category:TYH Category:STRY Category:S6TR Category:SY Category:e65y Category:usrt Category:ysrt Category:ystr Category:ys Category:trywse Category:trgf Category:ghsjr Category:ty Category:ser Category:y Category:s